Digital Media

File this under the practice what you preach department.

Remember Henry McMaster, South Carolina's state attorney general, the man who was shocked, shocked, shocked to find illicit sex on Craigslist and earlier this year threatened to file charges against the Web's No. 1 classifieds site? Perhaps McMaster would do well to police his own office before going after anyone else.

Roland Corning, a nine-year employee of the state's attorney general's office, was stopped by police after being found in a Columbia, S.C., cemetery while in the company of an 18-year-old female stripper and in possession of assorted sex toys, according to a report about the incident in the blog Fitsnews.com. The online unit of The State, South Carolina's largest newspaper, verified the report.

Apparently, the cemetery is a hot spot for sexual encounters, both publications reported. Corning, 66, was not arrested after identifying himself to police as a prosecutor, but The Associated Press reported he was later fired by his boss, McMaster.

McMaster threatened to launch a criminal investigation against the operators of Craigslist while the site was trying to negotiate with several state attorneys general about limiting the ads posted by prostitutes. Critics accused McMaster of using Craigslist's situation to grab headlines.

Craigslist filed a lawsuit against McMaster's office and a judge slapped it with a restraining order that prevented the attorney general from filing the charges. McMaster's office never made good on the criminal charges.

The situation with Corning, who told police he always carried Viagra and sex toys "just in case," will be fodder for those who argue that prostitution or sexual misconduct are not the fault of Craigslist.

Craigslist has been victorious in every court case on the issue of whether the site can be held responsible for the actions of its users.

Grady Judd, the sheriff for Polk County in Florida, has followed in the anti-Craigslist footsteps of Cook County, Illinois, counterpart, Tom Dart.

In a sweep imaginatively titled "Operation Hot Date," the sheriff's forces arrested 28 women for allegedly advertising prostitution services on Craigslist.

The Smoking Gun quoted the sheriff as declaring that the site is still a "one-stop shop for all your prostitution needs."

I was not aware that there are other shops that require several stops to achieve similar ends, as it seems that local newspapers and other Web sites seem to offer ads of a rather similar nature to those on Craigslist.

(Credit: CC Acloudman/Flickr)

However, the sheriff accused the site of "facilitating prostitution" and suggested he is extremely gung-ho to take legal action against Craigslist.

The Smoking Gun, while mentioning that some alleged pimps were also rounded up in "Operation Hot Date," also focused on the suggestions that two of the women who allegedly arrived for assignations with undercover policemen were pregnant and that a third had fur-lined handcuffs.

However, some might find it more interesting that six of these women are smiling in their mugshots.

Could they perhaps have felt that there is a certain sense of futility in such police action?

I know many people have strong feelings about euthanasia. And who am I to suggest that old people have few uses?

However, who is Michael Amatrudo to put his parents up for sale on Craigslist?

According to NBC New York, Amatrudo's wife is used to his sense of humor. You might conclude, though, that she has suffered enough. For her loving husband decided, just for a little fun, to put his parents up for sale on America's most useful human exchange.

Amatrudo's ad was a poem to filial love: "I got lots of use out of these guys over the past 50 years, but it's time to move on," he wrote. "Will consider trade for newer model, hot blonde under age 40 or an Erector Set in good condition. MUST SEE! Please email or call Michael for additional details and pics. $155.00 OBO."

This being America, the most tasteful of Madison, Conn.'s, residents claims he received many replies to his kind offer.

This picture was taken in Madison, Ct. But I do not believe these are the parents in question.

(Credit: CC Faeryboots/Flickr)

Well, he was wise enough to list Ed and Arlene Amatrudo as being in "excellent overall condition and still plenty of life left in them."

While he claims he was touched by those who wrote to him suggesting that really good parents are, indeed, a very rare commodity, one has to wonder about Amatrudo's psyche.

You see, according to the Associated Press, Amatrudo is a 51-year-old insurance executive.

And he told NBC New York that his motivation for the ad was that he was bored. So I ventured to LinkedIn to see if I could discover more about this man.

Well, I could only find the one Michael Amatrudo, who appears to have spent 23 years with the same insurance company, Aon Re.

Should this be the gentleman concerned, everything is surely explained. How else can a man who has spent so much of his life with one insurance company make himself laugh other than to try selling his parents on Craigslist? Watching old Monty Python sketches just has no effect any more.

One can only wonder whether his parents cut him out of their will. You know, just for fun.

How could he put them up for sale for $155? They had to be worth at least $200. Typical insurance company undervaluation.

Is posting a phony, sexually suggestive ad online about another person free speech, an inappropriate prank, or a felony? That's what the Missouri court system will decide.

A cyberbullying case in Saint Charles County, Missouri, will test a year-old state law on electronic harassment. The law makes it a felony for someone 21 years or older to communicate with someone 17 years or younger by phone or electronic means in order to recklessly frighten, intimidate, or cause emotional distress to that person.

Elizabeth Thrasher, 40, allegedly posted a photo and personal contact details of a teenage girl in the Casual Encounters section of Craigslist during the spring. The teen reportedly received phone calls, e-mails, and text messages from strange men, prompting her to call the police.

Thrasher was then charged with the crime of cyberbullying under the statute 565-090, passed in Missouri in August 2008. Unofficially known as Megan's law, the statute is named after 13-year-old Megan Meier who committed suicide in 2006 after being the victim of an Internet hoax set up by a schoolmate's mother.

In the new case, CNET News recently spoke by phone with defense attorney Michael Kielty and Saint Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas.

The defense speaks
Hired to defend Thrasher, Michael Kielty finds fault with the law itself, pegging it as too vague. "It's a terribly crafted statute," he told CNET News. "I think ultimately it's going to be found unconstitutionally overly broad and vague."

Kielty's problems with the law rest partly on free speech issues. He said the statute states that if you cause somebody under 17 emotional duress via electronic communication, then you're a felon. "Can you imagine the application of that in everyday life?" he asked. "With your children? With teachers and students? It is a slippery slope."

The attorney also believes the case targets Internet speech specifically and that it wouldn't be a felony had it not occurred in cyberspace. "She was arrested and had to post bond for words. No actions, no threats. For words. There's something wrong with that. If it was a newspaper ad, it would not have been criminal. It certainly wouldn't have been a felony. If it was on a street corner or a bathroom wall, it wouldn't have been a felony."

Kielty also discussed the complicated back-story between the defendant and alleged victim. One of the client's daughters was dating the alleged victim's younger brother, he said. That led to a meeting between the ex-husband of the defendant and the alleged victim's mother, who apparently hit it off and moved in together soon after.

Conflict then started to surface between various family members, according to Kielty. The alleged victim's mother started making derogatory comments about the defendant's daughter, he said. Kielty claims there was harassment by the alleged victim and and her mother directed at the defendant.

"This didn't just happen in an isolated incident," he said. "There is context to the transaction. But my client never initiated contact with the victim. Your typical harassment statute would be a series of threatening or harassing statements, maybe some stalking, maybe threats of abuse or something of that nature. This is nothing of the sort."

This isn't Kielty's first encounter with Megan's law. In December, he defended a 21-year-old woman accused of sending harassing and threatening text messages to a 17-year-old girl in a dispute over a male.

The 21-year-old was charged under the same statute, but in this case it was a misdemeanor, not a felony. Kielty said she pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and received probation. "But she was never arrested, and she never had to post bond," he said. "And I would argue that case was more egregious than (the Thrasher case) because as the facts came out at the plea, there were actual threats made."

Kielty acknowledges that Thrasher's action was improper and a mistake. "It wasn't thought out and it was not the appropriate thing to do. However, I don't think it raises to the level of a felony, much less a misdemeanor."

Kielty sees the law as a knee-jerk reaction on the part of local politicians to the Megan Meier case. All the media attention and public outcry over Meier's suicide led to the new statute, he believes. And now the prosecutor is in a position to enforce that statute.

An arraignment is set for Monday, in which Kielty will enter a plea of not guilty on behalf of his client. He expects the case will be set for either a disposition or preliminary hearing. The hearing would require the state to show probable cause that a crime was committed and that Thrasher was the person who committed it.

After that, the case would then travel to the circuit court, requiring another arraignment where Kielty would again enter a plea of not guilty. The case would then be set for trial, which the attorney believes could happen mid- to late spring of 2010.

If convicted, Thrasher might receive a penalty of up to four years in prison. "Up to four years in prison for a practical joke gone awry," said Kielty. "For words spoken through an Internet medium that would not be criminal if spoken on the corner of the street. I'm going to fight them every step of the way because I don't think it's a properly crafted statute. I believe that ultimately the statute will be overturned and should be."

The prosecution speaks
Saint Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas is charged with enforcing Megan's law. As opposed to Kielty, he said he believes the statute will stand up in court. "I think it's drawn narrowly enough to punish people only when they've done something intentional for the purpose of intimidating or frightening or causing someone emotional distress. I can only say that as it's written right now, we're enforcing it and will enforce it."

Banas doesn't believe the law singles out the Internet specifically other than that it's the vehicle used to commit the crime. He pointed out that Missouri harassment statutes are not just for electronic communications. "They're written for any type of communications done to frighten or intimidate or cause emotional distress," he explained, "whether the purpose is to harass somebody through the Internet, over the phone, or face to face."

This isn't a free speech issue according to Banas, but pure harassment. "Free speech does not involve speech directed at someone to intimidate, frighten, or otherwise harass them," he said. "That's not what free speech is about. This is directing something at a specific individual for the purpose of intimidating or frightening or causing emotional harm. It takes it out of the realm of some type of public speech."

Megan's law was passed to update Missouri's prior harassment statute, which Banas said was archaic because it only covered intimidation by writing or by phone. A large committee of prosecutors, defense attorneys, and a victim in another case worked with legislators to upgrade the statute for the modern world to cover electronic communications.

Banas explained that much time and effort have been spent educating people about the new law and the issue of harassment. Local newspapers and news stations have done stories on cybercrimes and the problems they've created.

Megan Meier's mother has also focused on public awareness. "Mrs. Meier had organized a nonprofit agency in which she went to schools to make parents and everyone else aware of this," said Banas. "There are bullying and cyberbullying classes. My wife is a teacher, and that's part of their curriculum."

"Whether or not the law was common knowledge, I think it was common knowledge that what she did was wrong," said Banas. "You're presumed to know what the crimes are in the state of Missouri."

The attorney explained that it's in an appeals process where the statute's constitutionality would be tested.

"If it goes to trial, and there's a verdict of guilty, then the defendant would have a right to appeal it. But I think this statute is very much within the constitutional boundaries. I think it should withstand the scrutiny of the appellate court."

Connect. Inspire. Act. These three words were engraved on my invitation to Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp.

It was Saturday, and I was a little tired. So I was barely in the mood to connect with the daylight, never mind offering it inspiration.

However, I arrived just at the moment when inspiration was being served. In a large outdoor tent in Berkeley, Calif., about 1,500 people who had come together to make communities matter listened as a nice lady from the Craigslist Foundation said that everyone was about to network with the person immediately to their right.

She then asked those persons immediately to their right to score them out of 10--although she insisted that if you only got a 2 it didn't mean your pitch was terrible.

The secret of the networking pitch is, apparently, enthusiasm. So in order to demonstrate, a Berkeley student named Olga was invited to the stage to pitch to Facebook marketing director Randi Zuckerberg.

Olga had her one business card at the ready, when the nice lady announced she would be pitching to Randi's husband too. He works in venture capital, she said. So he's a good judge of pitches.

Olga didn't buckle under the binary pressure. Afterward, everyone stood up and began to pitch to the right.

A panel discussion at Boot Camp.

(Credit: CC Cambodia4kidsorg/Flickr)

At the back of the tent, it seemed as if there were a lot of short men pitching to tall women. Even volunteers were pitching to one another. At least I think they were pitching, although the hubbub bubbled so loudly that they might have been wondering about where to get a fine glass of cider.

This mixing of doing good with hard-nosed business was a curious sight. There was passion. There was belief. But at some moments, it almost felt sad that caring was now a business and that business principles needed to be enacted in order to get us pathetic, jaded humans to care and share.

Then Zuckerberg made a well-received speech about, well, how wonderful Facebook is.

She spoke of how the Obama administration had demonstrated "open government" through its embrace of the site. She spoke of how Lenny Kravitz uploads pictures of all his audiences onto his Facebook page. She spoke of how Roger Federer on Facebook really is Roger Federer. In order to emphasize this, she said, he uploaded a video of himself.

She also spoke at some length about events in Iran.

For one weak, fleeting, terrible moment, a slightly cynical drip of sweat ran down my back as I pondered whether Twitter had rather co-opted Iran (in the public eye, at least) and now Facebook was trying to get on level terms.

I let it pass--until, that is, an extremely passionate woman called Pamela Mays McDonald took the microphone to ask what the Twitter tag was for the Boot Camp, as she would like to Twitter with attendees and tell them about her new Facebook group, Hope Against Hate, that was fighting against hate-based violence and speech.

With a swift reflex reaction, Zuckerberg intoned that an alternative to Twittering might be to update your Facebook status.

For all Zuckerberg's extremely well-intentioned passion about social technology being able to bring people together in order to do good, I just wondered whether an additional advert for Facebook was really needed right there.

Especially as Mays McDonald was describing a group against hateful speech, something of a slippery area for Facebook.

This all left me with a peculiar sense that perhaps Facebook feels it needs to compete with Twitter for hearts and minds because they will, in some future way, lead to pockets.

The truth, though, as the enthusiasm and passion for so many different causes at this extraordinary day made very clear, is that we still need pockets to help us convert those hearts and minds.

Federal judge orders South Carolina to halt criminal investigation of Craigslist.

A judge has ordered Henry McMaster, attorney general of South Carolina, not to file any criminal charges against Craigslist until the related matter is settled in court.

A judge for the U.S. district court in South Carolina on Friday issued a temporary restraining order in the case. Craigslist sought the order after McMaster threatened the service as well as its managers with criminal prosecution.

McMaster has demanded that Craigslist do more to halt prostitution ads from appearing on its site. He said he would instruct his staff to launch a criminal investigation unless the ads were removed. He continued issuing threats even after Craigslist agreed to shut down its "erotic" section and replace it with a new "adult" area.

Craigslist has filed suit against McMaster, whose motivations were questioned in a story by The Associated Press. On Thursday, the AP reported that McMaster has never prosecuted a prostitution case in six years. Critics have said that if McMaster were serious about combating prostitution, he could start trying cases or at least go after newspapers and other classified publications that also offer the same kind of questionable content as Craigslist.

Craiglist representatives declined to comment and McMaster's office did not reply to an interview request.

One thing is for sure, if a story reported yesterday is accurate, Henry McMaster, the attorney general for South Carolina is no expert at fighting prostitution.

Earlier this month, McMaster threatened Craigslist with criminal prosecution if the online classifieds site, did not do more to remove prostitution ads on its site. But according to a report by The Associated Press, McMaster said Thursday he has "never handled a single such case in more than six years as the state's top prosecutor."

"I don't think this office has handled any prostitution prosecutions ever," McMaster was quoted by the AP. "This is something different. This is against the biggest want ads Web site in the world."

McMaster and a number of other state attorneys general demanded in the past several weeks for Craigslist to close down the publication's "erotic" section. They claim the area was rife with solicitations for sex that often involved minors and people who forced into prostitution against their will.

Craigslist agreed to replace the erotic section with a new adult section and also began reviewing every ad to ensure it met with the site's terms of service before it appeared online. While Craigslist was trying to implement these new measures, McMaster once again issued a threat of prosecution against Craigslist and its managers.

The AP spoke to Ann Bartow, a professor of Internet law at the University of South Carolina's School of Law. She said: "McMaster's decision to take on Craigslist and not local newspapers that advertise escort services suggests political motivations."

Craigslist has always said that the site was far more tame compared with many newspaper and competing online classified publications. McMaster, however argued that the volume of the prostitution ads made Craigslist a bigger threat.

"It is the vehicle of choice for prostitution in this country," McMaster told the AP. "They had been notified emphatically that those were prostitution ads."

It's tough to compete with free.

The use of online classifieds sites, such as Craigslist, has more than doubled in the past four years, according to a study published Friday by the Pew Research Center. At the same time that Web classifies are on the rise, the classifieds business that newspapers once depended on has collapsed, the Pew Internet & America Life Project found.

"Nearly half (49 percent) of Internet users say they have ever used online classified sites," the Pew Center said in the report. In 2005, the percentage was 22 percent.

One out of 10 Internet users visits an online classifieds service each day, up from four percent in 2005.

Not that this is big news but the Pew Center helps to illustrate just how devastating online classifieds has been on newspapers. A graph of newspaper classified ad revenue since 1980 to last year (at bottom) shows that the industry saw a high in 2000 with about $19.6 billion. Last year, newspapers recorded $9.9 billion.

That's a plunge in revenue of about 49 percent.

There's no question either that Craigslist dominates Web classifieds.

"In the world of online classified advertising, Craigslist is by far the most used Web site in the United States," Pew said in the report. "In March 2009, classified sites averaged 53.8 million unique visitors, up 7 percent from February. Craigslist had 42.2 million unique visitors in the month of March."

(Credit: Pew Research Center)

Henry McMaster, the South Carolina attorney general who threatened Craigslist with criminal prosecution last week, must assume Web users and the people of his state don't take the time to read.

Henry McMaster, South Carolina's attorney general is no longer threatening Craigslist with prosecution.

(Credit: SCattorneygeneral.org)

Just a few hours after Craigslist announced that it had filed a lawsuit against McMaster for making threats and alleging managers of the site were in some way responsible for prostitution ads that have appeared on the site, McMaster claimed victory.

He suggested that it was he and his threats that prompted Craigslist to implement changes to the site, such as setting up a system to review ads before they appear in the new "adult" section and the deleting of the "erotic" section.

"Overnight (Craigslist) removed the erotic services section from their Web site as we asked them to do," McMaster wrote on his site Wednesday. "And they are now taking responsibility for the content of their future advertisements. If they keep their word, this is a victory for law enforcement and for the people of South Carolina."

As anyone who has followed this story knows, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster announced a week ago that he planned to implement a monitoring system for adult ads and do away with the erotic section. This was well before Friday when McMaster posted a note on his site saying he was going ahead with criminal prosecution.

Craigslist had come under scrutiny after law enforcement agencies complained that the site's erotic category was a digital meat market where prostitutes and pimps could safely conduct business. On Wednesday, the state of New York announced it had made seven arrests in connection with an alleged prostitution ring that operated on Craigslist's erotic section.

Craigslist has worked with state attorneys general from across the country to try to find a way to curb sex solicitation on the site. In November, 40 state attorneys general, including McMaster, were part of an agreement with Craigslist that saw the service adopt a series of changes, such as requiring anyone posting to the erotic section to provide phone and credit card numbers. Craigslist met again with a small number of attorneys general earlier this month after a woman was murdered by a man who allegedly found her ad on Craigslist's erotic section.

The important thing here is that McMaster refrained from making more threats and his comments apparently signal he will not be filing criminal charges.

"We trust (Craigslist executives) will now adhere to the higher standards they have promised," McMaster wrote. "This office and the law enforcement agencies of South Carolina will continue to monitor the site to make certain that our laws are respected."

McMaster never had legal grounds in which to prosecute Craigslist managers, according to Matt Zimmerman of the the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He told CNET News the Communication Decency Act protects Web sites like Craigslist from being held criminally liable for the actions of users.

After reading McMaster's comments, some may conclude that one of two events transpired: McMaster didn't get the memo that Craigslist was well on its way to changing the site to satisfy the demands made by a group of attorneys general earlier this month.

Or, the AG simply used the controversy surrounding the online sex trade, a problem that apparently has no easy answers, to drum up a few easy press clippings.